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Bio of Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is one of the most famous professional poker players in the world and considered by many to be the best live tournament player of all time. Since his first tournament win in 1987, Phil has cashed almost 300 times and made over 200 final tables. As of 2011, he holds the record for the most WSOP cashes (86 including one at the WSPOE) the most WSOP final table appearances (45) and the most WSOP Championships bracelets won (11).

Phil Hellmuth Jr. was born on July 16, 1964 and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, the first of five children. He attended Blessed Sacrament elementary school where his best friend was future comedian Chris Farley. After high school he attended the University of Wisconsin where he was introduced to Texas Hold‘em at the student union. After winning in local poker games, he dropped out of college after three years to focus on poker. After his 10th losing trip to Las Vegas, he was back in Madison working as a field laborer to build up his bankroll so he could head back to the poker capitol of the world. Soon he started winning and making history.

In 1987 Phil scored his first tournament cash when he finished fifth in the $1,000 NLH Pot of Gold event in Reno, Nevada to win $1,980. But it was in 1988 that he started making a splash on the tournament circuit. Again in Reno, he took first in the $200 NLH event at the Pot of Gold for $17,550. Then he made his first cashes at the WSOP when he came in fifth in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Split for $15,450 and finished 33rd in the $10,000 NLH World Championship event to win $7,500. From there he went to L.A. to play in the 4th Annual Diamond Jim Brady event where he won $ 125,000 for taking first in the $10,000 NLH tournament and $72,000 for finishing second in the $1,000 NLH event. He finished the year by winning the $300 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event at the Super Stars of Poker in Lake Tahoe to take home $17,685.

The next year, Phil cashed in 14 events, making the final table 13 of 14 times. He started 1989 off by winning two events at the Cajun Cup; the $500 NLH event for $48,306 and the $300 Ace to 5 Lowball event for $20,520. Then at the WSOP he cashed three times and at 24 years old, became the youngest person ever to win the Main Event by defeating two time defending champion Johnny Chan. He took home $755,000 and his first of 11 gold bracelets. He also cashed three times at the All England No Limit Hold\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’em Grand Prix in London; finished second for $40,000 in the $10,000 NLH 7th Annual America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s Cup in Las Vegas and had two cashes at the 5th Annual Diamond Jim Brady event. He also cashed twice at the Hall of Fame Poker Classic with his biggest win being $33,000 for his second place finish in the $2,000 NL 2-7 Lowball event.

Phil cashed seven times in 1990 and made six final tables with his biggest win being in the $2,500 NLH event at the WSOP where he finished fifth for $32,500. Five more cashes at five more final tables came in 1991 including three final tables at the Hall Of Fame Poker Classic where he took first in the $1,500 PLH for $80,400.

The highlights of 1992 for Phil were his five WSOP cashes where he hit the final in all five events. He placed second in the $2,500 LH event for $84,000 then a week later, won the $5,000 Limit Hold \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’Em event for $168,000 and gold bracelet number two. To follow up, he went to the L.A. Poker Classic and won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven No Limit for $27,500 then ended his year by taking second place in the Jim Brady $1,500 NLH tournament to win $45,000.

It was in 1993 that Phil would make poker history when he became the first player ever to win three bracelets in a single year. During the year, he cashed five times at five final tables and won four events. He started his first place streak at the WSOP in the $1,500 NLH where he took the title, his third gold bracelet and $161,400. Next he came in second in the $5,000 NL Deuce to Seven Draw event for $72,500. Then for an encore, he won both the $2,500 NLH and the $5,000 LH events to win bracelets number four and five and collect $173,000 and $138,000 respectively. To end his phenomenal year, he went to L.A. and won the Jim Brady $1,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event to take home $50,000.

In 1994 Phil cashed five times, making the final table all five times. He had one win that year, in the $1,000 LH event at the Queens Poker Classic Summer Edition for $42,400. His one WSOP cash was a second place finish in the $1,500 NLH event for $93,900. In 1995 he cashed nine times, made eight final tables and won four events. The events he won were: the Queens Poker Classic Summer Edition for $18,450 in the $500 Deuce to Seven Draw event; the $2,000 PLO at the Legends of Poker for $48,000; the $1,500 LH Hall of Fame Poker Classic for $117,000 and the $5,000 Hall of Fame Poker Classic Championship for $236,000.

1996 started with Phil winning the $500 PLO event at Amarillo Slim\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s Superbowl of Poker for $14,850. The two highlights from his six cashes and six final tables that year were winning the $535 LH Four Queens Poker Classic for $38,600 and placing sixth at the WSOP in the $ 2,500 Omaha 8 or Better for $12,375. The next year he had five cashes and hit three final tables, but his biggest achievement was winning the $3,000 PLH event at the 1997 WSOP for his sixth gold bracelet and a $204,000 payday.

In 1998 Phil cashed seven times including twice at the WSOP. He made the final table five times and won three events: the $1,500 LH Carnivale of Poker event for $78,000; the $1,000 NLH for $50,400 and the $1,000 LHE event for $22,000 at the Four Queens Poker Classic. Phil cashed nine times in 1999 and made eight final tables including two WSOP cashes where his biggest win was fifth in the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better for $20,925.

The year 2000 saw Phil cash 20 times, make 18 final tables, cash twice at the WSOP and win six events. His biggest win was when he took down the $1,000 NLH First Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica for $53,932.

In 2001 he cashed 19 times including seven times at the WSOP and made 13 final table appearances, winning three events. Phil started at the WSOP by winning the $2,000 NLH event to collect his 7th championship bracelet and $316,550. His next biggest win was $303,705 for fifth place in the $10,000 NLH Main Event, followed by placing second in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better event for $103,785.

During 2002 Phil would again cash 19 times, including twice at the WSOP and make 17 final tables. He cashed for the first time in two WPT events and had his biggest payday of the year in the $8,000 LH event on the Party Poker Million Cruise when he finished third for $62,400.

Although he cashed 14 times, the high point of 2003 for Phil was his six cashes, four final tables and two wins at the WSOP. In the $2,500 LH he won $171,400 and gold bracelet number eight; then he won the $3,000 NLH event for $410,860 and bracelet number nine. In 2004 he would cash nine times including five cashes at the WSOP and make five final table appearances, including two at the WSOP and one at a WPT event.

Phil got 2005 off to a great start when he won the Heads-Up NLH National Heads-Up Poker Championship for $500,000. He followed with seven more cashes including four at the WSOP. In 2006, he cashed 20 times, including eight cashes at the WSOP and made 13 final tables. One of his four WSOP final tables was in the $1,000 NLH event where he took down $631,863 and bracelet number ten for winning the title. The high point of Phil’s 19 cashes in 2007 was winning the $1,500 NLH event for $637,254 and his record setting 11th gold bracelet.

In 2008, Phil cashed 28 times including six WSOP cashes. He also cashed for the first time in the WSOPE in London and won the $50,000 Week 3 Poker After Dark IV Heads up Challenge to pocket $200,000. The next year, in 2009, Phil cashed 12 times, including seven cashes at the WSOP. He had five final table appearances but none of them were at the WSOP. In 2010 he would cash 14 times and make 11 final tables. He made one final table at the WSOP when he came in seventh in the $1,500 PLO Hi/Lo 8 to win $30,633.

By June of 2011, Phil had cashed in two events before cashing five times at the WSOP. He made three final tables, finishing as a runner-up and missed collecting bracelet number 12 in all three events. He finished second in: the $ 10,000 NL Deuce To Seven Draw World Championship for $226,907; the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship to win $273,233 and the $50,000 The Poker Players Championship 8 Game event where he collected $1,063,034.

In spite being shut out three times from taking home bracelet 12, the usually outspoken, boisterous and sometimes abrasive ‘Poker Brat’ handled his defeats with a calm and grace not normally seen from this poker super star.

In September 2011, Hellmuth finished third in the Epic Poker League Pro/Am Tournament along with fellow professionals Greg \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”FBT\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\” Mueller and Nam Le. The result earned him a seat in the Epic Poker League Main Event.

As of July 2011, Hellmuth’s total live tournament winnings exceed $13,000,000 which ranked him fourth on the All Time Money List. A familiar face on TV, Phil can regularly be seen playing in big events and also as a host on ESPN, Bravo, and NBC. Among his many accomplishments, he has won Player of the Year honors, holds over 50 major tournament titles and was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007.

Phil resides in Palo Alto, CA with Kathy, his wife of 19 years and their two sons. Showing his diversity both on and off the poker table; his book, ‘Play Poker Like the Pro\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s’ is a New York Times bestseller, he has released several poker instructional DVD\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s and since 1998, has written the newspaper column \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”Hand of the Week.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\” Phil is also a philanthropist, active in many charities including those for fallen police officers and firemen. Phil also does something special with his WSOP bracelets – he gives them away to family and friends; only keeping the very first one for himself.

When asked what his goal is, he replied, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”I want to be the greatest poker player of all-time. But one who always puts family first.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”

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